by Lani Aames
Kerry threw down the shears and yanked off her gloves.
Perhaps he was just being more polite to her. Free room and board and sex. What more could an itinerant alien ask for?
Kerry crossed the greenhouse to her desk in the corner. She had paperwork to do. Piles and piles of paperwork. And as grateful as she was for this day’s little spurt in sales, it was too little, too late. She barely had enough to cover next month’s expenses. What about the month after that? If Myghal could keep pulling them in in droves for the next six months, she might make it, but she had the feeling the novelty would wear off soon enough—especially if he didn’t respond to their obvious advances.
What if he did?
Her suspicions provoked, she couldn’t put that genie back in the bottle.
Both situations—financial and emotional—were hopeless. With one last bitter glance at Myghal and the black-haired woman standing almost close enough to touch, she dove into her paperwork.
* * * * *
For a long time Kerry was aware of nothing except columns of numbers that were never big enough for incoming and too big for outgoing. Suddenly, she looked up to find Myghal staring at her from the edge of her office space. He smiled, and she almost melted. Then she remembered the brunette and looked out the tiny area of window not obscured by plants. The leggy woman was still out there, standing among the rose bushes, her arms crossed. She seemed impatient.
Kerry turned her gaze back to Myghal. “Your customer is waiting for you.”
He shrugged. Was the movement too casual, as if he were only pretending not to care? Kerry shook herself mentally. It really wasn’t in her nature to be overly suspicious. But a woman like that didn’t hang around unless she was sure of a payoff.
“She won’t buy anything, but she won’t go away.” He held up an empty bottle. “Do you have more?”
Kerry nodded and opened the mini-fridge. She handed him a full bottle of water from the six-pack she’d bought that morning. He uncapped it and took a long drink. Kerry couldn’t help the thought that flitted through her mind—that she wished his lips were sucking on her clit instead of the water bottle. Her body grew warm, watching him, thinking about what he could do with those talented lips. It was all she could do not to sweep her desk clean, sprawl on her back, and spread her legs for him.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Thank you. Here, water in bottles tastes much better than what pours from your…uh, spigots.”
Kerry pushed aside the ledger she’d been working on. “You don’t have bottled or running water where you come from?”
He slowly screwed the cap back on the bottle. He looked cornered, as if he searched for a way to answer her.
“No bottled water,” he said at last.
But that didn’t answer the second part of her question about running water. She didn’t ask again. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. After all, a stream could be called running water.
Kerry jumped to her feet. She had to move, to get away from her corner. The transparent walls of the greenhouse were beginning to close in on her, and that wasn’t good at all. She marched around the desk and headed for the door.
“I’m going to see if your friend wants anything.”
Myghal caught up to her and stopped her before she’d gone another yard.
“She’s not my friend. You’re the only friend I have here.”
She pulled loose from his hold on her arm. “Why is that? I don’t understand where you’re from, what you’re doing here, or why I—”
Kerry broke off and bit her lip. She wasn’t about to spill her guts to him about her feelings when she knew so little about him.
“You sound angry, Kerry O’Neill.” Gently, he took her into his arms. “Have I done something wrong?”
She almost blurted out that everything was all wrong, but she went into his embrace instead. And that made everything all right. It felt right to be close to him, to hold him and be held by him, to make love with him until it seemed like they floated off the bed.
“I’m not angry. I’m—” But she was at a loss for words, unable to express all the emotions boiling over inside of her.
“You’re what, Kerry? Fighting the urge to make love?”
She nodded. It wasn’t all she was fighting, but sex with Myghal seemed to have taken over and become the most important. What was balancing the books and trying to find a way to save her business compared to fucking Myghal?
He kissed her, taking her breath and her tongue, sucking hard. The mock fucking set her clit afire and desire burning through her veins. He backed her up all the way to her office space, past the row of potted pampas grass, until the backs of her thighs hit the edge of her desk. Was he a mind reader?
His fingers fumbled with the snap and zipper of her jeans as his mouth continued to devour her. When he grunted in frustration, Kerry helped to unfasten her pants, then undid his as well. She reached in and pulled his cock free, the silky skin hot and hard. She stroked it repeatedly as Myghal’s hand dove inside her panties, two fingers curling up inside her, the knuckle of his thumb pressed to her clit.
“I don’t understand…” Kerry whispered, massaging his cock and leaning into his hand as his fingers fucked her. “I don’t understand why I want you all the time.”
His fingers delved even deeper. “We were meant for each other.”
Chapter Twelve
Kerry believed in lust at first sight, but not love at first sight. He hadn’t said anything about love, had he? But didn’t “meant for each other” mean love, too?
His other hand slid inside her panties, leaving a hot trail across her cheeks as he peeled her underwear and jeans below her hips. She started to help him push them lower but he stayed her hand. Instead, he turned her around so that her backside was to him and bent her over the desk.
Questing fingers found her wet lips again, and his cock nudged her there. Arms resting on the desktop, she arched her spine, pushing her pelvis back and up to make his entrance easier. His hands slid beneath her blouse, over her stomach and ribs and under her bra until her breasts were in his palms, thumbs pinching her nipples against his forefingers.
Myghal rocked against her and his cock drove into her pussy. She increased the arch of her hips until his balls struck her clit with each thrust. He glided in and out in a smooth, fast rhythm, squeezing her nipples with each forward thrust. Kerry closed her eyes and enjoyed the building tension coiling in her womb. As her orgasm neared, her hips joined his pace, striving to make contact with his balls.
When the explosion came, surging warmly through her entire body, Kerry moaned with the intense pleasure. She rubbed her clit against his tight sac to prolong the sensation. Myghal’s long thrusts turned into short, quick jabs until he ground his hips into her with a guttural groan. His hands tightened on her breasts, and she felt him spurt within her.
He collapsed across her, and all Kerry could hear was the sound of their breath coming in gasps. His deflated cock was still inside her. Kerry flexed her inner muscles around it. She wanted him to fuck her again and again, but she knew he needed time to recover and—
They were draped across her desk, once again where anyone could walk in and find them. The pampas grass plants afforded some privacy, but her corner didn’t have a door. Why did all common sense take flight where Myghal was concerned?
“Myghal…” Kerry moved, and Myghal gave her nipples one last squeeze before he stood up. Kerry rose, too, straightening her bra and blouse and pulling up her jeans. She turned to face him. “We’ve got to stop doing this here. If someone walked in—”
Myghal swung her around. “Don’t be ashamed of pleasure.”
She shook her head. “I’m not. But it’s something that should be private. For some reason, I can’t keep my hands off of you.”
“I’m glad,” he said with a sensual grin that made her heart flip-flop in her chest. He kissed her. “I can’t keep my hands off of you or my cock out of you.” He took h
er hand and placed it on his crotch. “Already I want to fuck you again.”
She squeezed his growing bulge. “Me, too. But we can’t do this anymore.”
He frowned when she took her hand away and peeked through the plants. The brunette was still there, impatiently pacing through the hardy evergreen shrubs. Several other customers wandered around.
“I’ll give them each a shamrock and an Irish rose and send them on their way.” His hand slid between her legs and rubbed her swollen, aching pussy. “Then I’ll come back and lock the door so I can fuck you until you scream.”
Kerry moaned, his promise and his touch stirring her desires again. She didn’t know why she was constantly horny around this man. Perhaps it was an overreaction to the fact that she hadn’t been laid in six months before Myghal walked into her life. Had it only been yesterday? It felt as if she’d known him forever. Even if she didn’t know much about him.
“Oh, Myghal.” Reluctantly, she pulled away from him. He was disappointed but didn’t persist. “They’re potential customers. They might buy something.”
He nodded, touched her cheek, kissed her, and turned to leave. She almost called him back, the tingling in her clit insisting that she do so, but she bit her lip to keep from saying his name. She watched him cross the greenhouse and walk out the door…with the oddest premonition that she might never see him again.
* * * * *
Kerry looked out the window one more time. The brunette smiled seductively when she saw Myghal emerge from the greenhouse. Kerry wondered what the brunette would think if she knew what Myghal had been doing in here. Several other women flocked to him, and he had a smile and a word for each of them.
All these women today…and yesterday, too, she suddenly realized. What she thought had been in response to her drastic sale prices might have actually been Myghal’s magnetic presence. They seemed drawn to him even from as far away as the road. As if there were something…magical about him.
She shook her head. She needed to get her head out of the clouds and back into her books. Looking at the disarray on her desk, she shook her head again and ran a hand through her hair. How was she ever going to concentrate on bookkeeping when all she could think of was bending over the desk while Myghal fucked her from behind.
Kerry plopped down in her chair—a place that conjured up more images to distract her—and pulled the ledger toward her. She straightened up the stack of receipts and started going through them one at a time. Glancing up from time to time, she always saw the brunette hovering close to Myghal. Her mouth moved, but Kerry had no idea what she might be saying. Well, she had an idea, but she didn’t know. That woman had been out there all afternoon. What else could she want except Myghal?
Kerry became absorbed in making columns of numbers balance, quite a while passed until she looked up for the last time before snapping the book shut. She rubbed her neck and stared out the window.
Shadows had lengthened considerably as the sun moved lower in the sky. She’d spent more time on the books than she meant to, but at least she’d done most of her work. She rested her elbows on the desk and rubbed her neck while gazing out across the rows and rows of potted shrubs.
She couldn’t see anyone, not even Myghal. Perhaps she could close early and make up to him what she’d denied them earlier. Turning him down hadn’t been easy for her, but he’d seemed really disappointed.
Kerry stood and walked outside her office area. Pushing leafy plants aside, she looked outside. From here, she had a good view of the parking area. No vehicles of any kind. So, the leggy brunette had finally given up. Kerry smiled triumphantly and turned away. She spent the better part of an hour straightening up the greenhouse.
When everything was put away, she wondered why Myghal hadn’t come in. Surely he’d finished rearranging all the outside plants by now. She left the greenhouse and stood on the path to the toolshed, looking over her grounds, but Myghal was nowhere to be seen.
Kerry wondered if he could have possibly been hurt or sick and lying among the plants or statuary. She ran back inside for a flashlight and jacket. It was almost twilight and the air had cooled considerably.
By the time she’d searched between every row of shrubs and behind every stack of bags of mulch and fertilizer and even every corner of the front building and toolshed, night had fallen. Where could Myghal have gone?
The image of the leggy brunette with the seductive smile exploded in her mind.
Just a few hours ago, she would have sworn that Myghal was not the kind of man who would just walk out on her without a word. She hadn’t thought he would walk out at all because there was a connection between them. She didn’t understand it, but it was real. Even Myghal said he felt it.
But she’d looked everywhere on her property and hadn’t found an injured or ill Myghal. He said he didn’t know anybody else here. Where else could he have gone?
The only answer was with the brunette.
Kerry closed her eyes against the burn of unshed tears. She felt like an idiot, a gullible fool. Myghal had just appeared out of nowhere into her life. Why wouldn’t he disappear just as easily? He’d never made her any promises. They’d known each other a little over twenty-four hours.
So why did it hurt so much?
With tears scalding her cheeks, Kerry ran inside long enough to grab her purse. She ran through the gates and locked them behind her. Behind the wheel of her car, she swiped tears away as she stabbed at the ignition.
Myghal was gone.
Chapter Thirteen
“Lady Kerry,” the Gnome said with bowed head as he removed his cap. “I am Gomit, your humble servant.”
Kerry stumbled back in surprise. She bumped into the side of the small front building. She blinked at the little man who was dressed just like the taller garden Gnome statues she had for sale.
Myghal leaving her must have cracked her mind. She’d spent a sleepless, restless night, her body enflamed with need and aching for Myghal. She’d come to work, hoping to find him here, that he’d wandered away for some reason and got lost but somehow found his way back again. But he hadn’t been here when she arrived, her eyes red and swollen from weeping, and he didn’t show up all day. She’d resigned herself to the fact that Myghal had gotten what he wanted until a better offer came along. Namely, the leggy brunette.
The day had dragged by. She’d been about to go home when the garden Gnome introduced himself to her. Kerry didn’t know whether to scream or run. All she could manage was a whimper. The Gnome continued talking.
“’Tis regretful I am to inform you that his royal highness, Prince Myghal, has been captured by a despicable Troll.”
“Wh-Wh—” Kerry clamped her lips together and swallowed hard. The little man dressed like a Gnome spoke English, and she heard every word he said, but none of it made sense. Servant, royalty, captured… Prince Myghal? “Wh-What are you t-talking about?” she was finally able to sputter. “Wh-Who are you?”
“Gomit, at your service. ‘Tis a shock, I understand. Prince Myghal hadn’t a chance to tell you everything, indeed. I—”
“Why are you calling him prince?” Kerry was surprised she was able to speak a whole sentence without stopping to catch her breath. “What is he prince of? And by captured, do you mean he’s been kidnapped?”
“Aye, Lady Kerry.”
“Oh.” She breathed easy for the first time since she’d found Myghal gone. But she immediately tightened up again. She shouldn’t feel relief. He hadn’t left her, but had been kidnapped.
“’Tis sorry I am to admit my part in the deed, but my liege, General Gorgicz, instructed this worthless servant to play along with the Troll but to thwart him at the first opportunity.”
“General Gorg—And a Troll.” Kerry pressed against the brick.
The Gnome seemed harmless enough and subservient enough, but she had yet to wrap her mind around the fact that one of her Gnome statues had come to life. No, that was impossible. The Gnome just happened to look li
ke the statues because…well, because he was a Gnome. And he was telling a wild tale about a man who might be a prince that she had just met and fallen head over heels in lust with two days ago.
What was she supposed to do? Stand here and listen to a Gnome? Yes, because he said Myghal had been kidnapped.
“’Tis a long story, Lady, and time is of the essence, if I understand the Prince’s situation correctly. If you please, I’ll tell you what I know.”
Kerry drew in a deep, shaky breath. “It would please me greatly. If you’ll come in the greenhouse, you can tell me all about it.”
Gomit followed behind her, cap still in hand. She glanced back at him while she led the way, but he was doing nothing more than pumping his short legs to keep up with her. She slowed her walk the rest of the way.
Inside, she flipped on the lights. She went to her desk and fell into her chair. She hadn’t realized how weak her legs were until that moment. She offered him the extra chair and he climbed into the seat.
“Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Kerry suggested.
“’Twould take all night, I fear. Besides, some of it’s not my place to tell. I’ll be brief as I can. The Troll, Tredje, and I were sent to prevent Prince Myghal from taking y—”
“Prince?” Kerry interrupted. “Myghal never told me he was a prince. Prince of what?”
“Prince of Pixieland, a part of the Faerie Realm.”
“Pixieland?” Kerry’s tone rose in disbelief. “Myghal has to be over six feet tall. Trust me, there’s nothing pixie about him.”
Gomit’s gnarled face split into a grin. “Aye, but his royal highness is indeed Prince of the Pixies. The old Prince, Myghal’s father, died over three months ago. Myghal, being his only child, inherited the title. And the responsibilities. Unlike most royalty in your human realm, rulers actually rule their domains in the Faerie Realm.”
“I see.” Then Kerry shook her head. “No, I don’t really see at all. I’m supposed to believe this, but if it were coming from someone other than one of my garden Gnomes, I’d have called the police already.”
